Disney Animation Abandons Longform Streaming Content, Starting With The Tiana Show Announced 5 Years Ago

In a move reflecting the current state of Disney's efforts across both streaming and theatrical releases, Walt Disney Animation Studios will no longer be pursuing longform streaming content, as revealed by The Hollywood Reporter. As a result, the "Tiana" animated series, which has been in development for half a decade, has been canceled. The show would have seen Anika Noni Rose reprise her role from 2009's "The Princess and the Frog."

The change in mission isn't exactly shocking. It's widely known that Disney+ has struggled to make the money work on high-budget streaming originals, from live-action "Star Wars" shows to animated projects from Pixar. "Moana 2," in particular, was infamously meant to be a Disney+ series before it evolved into a theatrical film — and given that movie's billon-dollar gross, coupled with the massive box office success of Pixar's "Inside Out 2," it makes sense that Disney would want to reallocate its animation resources to more traditional release models.

That said, it's hard not to see the "Tiana" cancellation as part and parcel of Disney's recent efforts to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives company-wide. When the longstanding Disney theme park ride Splash Mountain was remodeled last year as a "Princess and the Frog" tie-in, forgoing its previous affiliation with the controversial "Song of the South," there was some major racist backlash online — something Disney has faced repeatedly for various reasons of late and, in the case of shows like "Star Wars: The Acolyte," struggled to strike back at. The recent Pixar streaming series "Win or Lose" similarly made headlines for cutting a planned transgender storyline, a move that some critics have called a capitulation to current cultural and political trends.

Make no mistake: Disney+ will likely remain central to the Mouse House's overall business strategy. However, since Bob Iger's return as CEO, the proclaimed name of the game has been less content, higher quality. Disney has made efforts to pull back spending on franchises like "Star Wars" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe on streaming amidst reports that many series have come in over budget with diminishing viewership. Given how well recent animated films have been performing in theaters for the company, it's unsurprising to see these streaming cutbacks hitting Disney Animation as well.

With luck, this will only be a change in strategy, and not a hit to the overall quality of the studio's work. The THR article also claims that a "short-form special" of some kind featuring Tiana is still in the works, so it's possible that the planned Disney+ series has just been changed into a different format. It wouldn't be the first time that the project's creative direction has shifted.

For now, Disney still seems to be in a sort of middle ground when it comes to streaming, tweaking things to try to make and Disney+ platform as profitable and sustainable as it can amidst a streaming industry that continues to be chaotic and financially unpredictable.